Tickets for Miss Earth’s crowning night on sale

(From L-R) Miss Earth 2008 Karla Paula Henry, Miss Earth 2009 Larissa Ramos, Miss Philippines Earth 2010 Kris Psyche O. Resus and Miss Vietnam World 2010 Luu Thi Diem Huong, a representative of Vietnam at Miss Earth 2010, in an activity to raise people’s awareness on environmental protection at Vinpearl Land Nha Trang - Photo: The organizers

The organizing committee of Miss Earth 2010 has printed over 5,000 tickets for the pageant’s crowning night on December 4 at the music fountain stage at Vinpearl Land in Nha Trang.

Nguyen Cong Khe, CEO of Thanh Nien Media Corp. and head of the organizing committee of the contest, said, “We publish the tickets a month prior to the event so audiences nationwide can come.”

There are four categories of seating - VIP tickets for VND4 million, VND2 million for seats in the front rows, standard tickets VND700,000 and tickets for travelers to Vinpearl Land for the crowning night worth VND450,000. The traveler tickets come with a free dinner worth VND100,000 at the resort.

Tickets are available at the following locations: the ticket booth of Vinpearl Land’s cable car, Vinpearl Square, Nha Trang City, tel: 058 3598123; Vietnamtourism Nha Trang, Tram Huong Tower, Tran Phu Street, Nha Trang City, tel: 058 3522 020; Vincom Center, 72 Le Thanh Ton Street, District 1, HCMC, tel: 08 3911 1177 and Level 1 of Vincom City Towers, 191 Ba Trieu Street, Hai Ba Trung Street, Hanoi, tel: 04 3974 8464.

“Miss Earth pageant marks its 10th anniversary this year so we expect it will be the best ever pageant. Furthermore, this is the first time the Miss Earth contest has been organized not in the Philippines so the organizing committee has to discuss and prepare carefully to make it a success,” Ramon Monzon – CEO of the Carousel Production Inc., co-organizer of Miss Earth 2010, said in a statement,

From November 4, about 90 contestants will come to Vietnam to take part in the competition. Titles include Miss Earth, Miss Earth Air (first runner-up), Miss Earth Water (second-runner up) and Miss Earth Fire (third runner-up). The crowning night will be broadcasted live on the VTV1 and VTV4 channels of Vietnam Television, ABS, CBN and Channel Philippines.

Miss Earth 2010 is organized in Vietnam by Thanh Nien newspaper, Thanh Nien Media Corp. and Carousel Production Inc. Vietnam will continue to host the pageant in even-numbered years from 2010 until 2020.

For further information and online booking, visit the website http://www.missearth.vn.

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An evening in Nirvana

Nirvana is located at 191A Hoang Van Thu Street, HCMC’s Phu Nhuan District. A guest at the Nirvana Café in HCMC’s Phu Nhuan District - Photo: My Tran

As one of the oldest cafes in Saigon, Nirvana Café’s attraction is its classic style.

The use of antiques and rare art combined with a sensitive attention to lighting lend meaning to the name. It’s a great hideout for anyone who needs to chillout, away from the streets for a while.

Behind the entrance is a wall with insets for oil lamps and a small altar for worshipping the earth god. Under the shade of trees and banana leaves is a small music fountain stage which plays every night.

The walls are painted to look old. “The color is in harmony with the lighting, making the café peaceful and fanciful, especially at night,” said one of the staff.

It has also got a lot of interesting bric a brac, including antiques, old scooters, lamps, ceramic vases and terra-cotta statues and wooden artworks. The chairs don’t match and the tables and stairs are made from dark colored wood that goes with the red curtains, giving it that northern-tribe feel.

The cafe has three floors. Different areas are reached by walking across stepping stones in shallow ponds containing fish and wetland grasses.

“I come to the café when I am in the mood as it is really a nice space to relax,” said Vi, a regular customer.

The café is a combination of cultures from the colorful hanging lanterns of Hoi An hanging in the corridors and ceilings, linga and yoni statues of Cham culture, oil lamps and furniture of the north and modern lights of Western style.

Flag planted on Fansipan peak to mark Hanoi’s birthday

A flag commemorating symbolising the capital city of Hanoi ’s
millennium was planted by amateur climbers on the nation’s highest
mountain - Fansipan peak at 3,143 m above sea level - in the northern
province of Lao Cai on Nov. 2.

The flag planting
ceremony was the culmination of an international contest for tourists
hosted by the Lao Cai authorities and the Vietnam National
Administration of Tourism in celebration of Hanoi ’s 1,000-year
anniversary.

Nguyen Tien Vung, who won the
competition’s second stage at the 2,800m altitude, earned the honour to
plant the flag on the peak dubbed the ‘roof of Indochina ’.

In the evening of the same day, a closing ceremony of the international competition was held in Sa Pa town.

Besides an individual prize for Vung and an collective prize for the
team of businesses in eight northwestern provinces, the organisers also
presented four prizes for best collections of photos of Fansipan and the
competition.

The two-day and one-night tour to climb
up the Fansipan and plant the flag marking the Thang Long-Hanoi’s
birthday included three stages, with the first beginning at the Nui Xe
mountain to the 2,200m altitude, the second from the 2,200m to 2,800m
altitude and the last stage – from the 2,800m to the highest peak.

The tour aimed to promote the tourist potentials of Lao Cai province and the country as well./.

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November promotions at Ramana Hotel

The four-star Ramana Hotel Saigon has a special price for its Western buffet dinner at The Cafe restaurant and discounts for family accommodation this month.

At only VND359,000++ per adult and VND179,000++per child; diners can send their taste buds around the world by tasting the delicious array of western dishes. Gourmets can also have fresh seafood their own way while enjoying The Café’s live band.

The buy 10 get one free promotion is valid until end of November from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. every Thursday to Saturday at The Cafe.

The family package valid till December 31 offers rooms from VND1.4 million++ (US$69++) per room per night.

Additional benefits include buffet breakfast at The Café, one-way airport transfer, complimentary unlimited internet access at business centre and in room, 10% discount on food & beverage at all outlets and 10% discount for spa treatment at the Oasis Spa and many more.

For reservation or inquiries, contact the hotel at 323 Le Van Sy, Dist.3, tel: 3843 9999 or email to reservation@ramanasaigon.com.

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See Tra Su wetlands in flood

The cajeput forest seems to go on forever from the top of the bird watching tower

The best time to visit Tra Su Cajuput Forest in An Giang is in the flooding season from July to December, according to one of the forest guides there. At this time, large areas of the forest become lakes that tourists can explore by motor-boat.

The forest has 106 colonies of water birds, bats and various rare and endangered animals and reptiles and over 140 flora species.

A 23m bird watching tower stands in the middle of the 845-hectare forest with a telescope for visitors to view the panorama and zoom in on some of the colonies of water birds.

It is possible to visit Tra Su, which is 20km from Chau Doc Town and 10km from the Vietnam-Cambodia border, on a tour that visits Sam Mountain, Forbidden Mountain, Tuc Dup Hill and Oc Eo cultural site.

Here are some snapshots taken by The Saigon Times Daily’ reporter Trung Chau during his visit to Tra Su.

Tourists travel through narrow canals in a motor-boat

Giang sen (Mycteria leucocephala) or painted storks are listed in the Vietnam Red Book

This tourist has a closer look at the birdlife through the tower’s telescope

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Photos of water puppetry on display

Audiences watch an outdoor water puppetry performance - Photo: Courtesy of Idécaf

A photographic exhibition on water puppetry by journalist Nguyen Hong Ha will be at the Institute for Cultural Exchange with France (Idécaf), 31 Thai Van Lung Street, HCMC’s District 1, November 2-4.

Ha will display over 50 photos with information about the traditional art-form that could date more than 2000 years.

Nguyen Hong Nga has won 21 local and 8 international artistic photo awards since 1988. She releases annual photo collection books every year in collaboration with Hai Au photography club.

According to folk legend, water puppetry had its origins during the dynasty of King An Duong Vuong back in 255BC. But the earliest documentary evidence is from the Ly dynasty in 1121.

Water puppetry is performed at festivals, holidays or Tet using lacquered wooden puppets on a stage made from a waist-deep pool of water. On Monday’s Vietnam water puppetry is a unique variation on the ancient Asian puppet tradition and is considered an intangible heritage of Vietnamese people.

In 1992, the municipal Thang Long Puppet Company returned 17 traditional water puppet stories to the stage attracting local and foreign tourists.

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Hanoi meets Saigon for coffee

A guest takes a drink at the Cacophony café designed to resemble Hanoi street café culture - Photo: Tuong Vi

Saigon is the melting pot of Vietnam… It’s a mixture of cultures, customs, foods and peoples from every province and around the globe. There’s a place for everyone here to enjoy the tastes of home.

For the Hanoians in Saigon who miss their city, Cacophony café at 57H, Tu Xuong Street in District 3 is a nice reminder of their favorite street hangouts.

Cacophony coffee shop is built in an old French three story villa. Each floor has its own style. The ground floor is a place for those love it modern, with live acoustic music every night from Wednesday to Sunday including pop, rock, and country 9 to 10.45p.m.

The first floor is decorated to be a street corner of Saigon with red bricks and power poles and old black and white photos of the city.

The second floor is the pride of the Hanoian owners. Every detail invokes memories of the old town - the brickwork, the street signs and the old wooden doors. There are oil lamps hanging outside every house, low set tables with cushions and cuckoo cages on the roofs. Phung Thanh Hoa, the owner of the cafe that opened on the occasion of 1,000 years of Hanoi-Thang Long said photos can’t walk you down memory lane as well as the three dimensional experience of Cacophony café. It was designed with help from architecture and arts students.

Tran Khanh Hoang, manager of the cafe said cacophony means a discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds. They gave this name to the newly opened shop because of the mixture of sounds on the streets.

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